Asus P5Q Deluxe Review

Introduction:

It seems with each passing month, new tech is coming fast and furious. A new chipset here, a new video card there, new cooling designs - it's all just coming together into a steady stream of products. It was just a short while ago that the X48 chipset-based boards were released to the public, and now the P45 chipset is the next in line. Well, what I have here and now is a motherboard based on that latest P45 chipset from Intel. The Asus P5Q Deluxe uses the Intel P45 Northbridge and ICH10R Southbridge, and uses Intel's Fast Memory Access technology. Sporting features such as high-end graphics via 3 way CrossFireX with 3 PCI-E x16 slots, energy savings via the new EPU 6 engine, Express Gate for a quick way to the Internet without booting into the OS, and a true 16-phase power design, it seems like the P5Q is loaded with the latest and greatest from Intel and Asus.

Will the Asus P5Q Deluxe meet or exceed the performance bar set by the X48 boards just a few short months ago? Only time will tell if this is, indeed, a worthy successor - or just another one of many boards in the crowd.

Closer Look:

Packaging on new motherboards has become quite flashy of late. The front of the package illustrates some of the features of the P5Q, including the EPU-6 Engine, Express Gate, and the FSB capabilities for both the RAM and CPU. The rear panel details the board's specifications, as well as giving more information on the EPU-6 Engine, the Stack Cool design of the motherboard, and the Drive Expert software.

How do you find more space to show the features of the motherboard? With a flip up panel on the front side of the package, of course. Lifting this tab reveals additional information about the features of the board. The 16-phase power design, EPU-6 Engine, Express Gate, the "Q" shield - it's all discussed right here.

Finally opening up the box reveals the typically large bundle of accessories that Asus includes with their motherboards. The P5Q is hidden underneath the accessories.

Checking out the bundle, it looks like Asus though of everything! Let's look at the items that are included.